TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums St. Maarten - St. Martin All Inclusive

Has any been to Sonesta all Inclusive at Maho Beach. What are the taxes and fees for a week . Plus is it worthwhile doing a all inclusive on the Island.

Have no idea what it costs, but you should be able to find out online at their website. Never done a/i on SXM. To ME, not worth it, as one of the best parts of SXM is going to different beaches, different restaurants, etc. And I love good food and have no desire to eat at a buffet for most of the week.

Met someone doing that All inclusive. They said portions small and drinks very little alcohol. They were happy to get on their feet and walk out to different spots during the day, they did not want to rent a car. I would never do all inclusive either, too many different places to visit every trip.

I have done both several times they both have good and bad points.
I've never been unhappy with Sonesta's food or drink. The best way to go to Sonesta is a package deal with an airline if they pair with flight and stay at a good price. But I also like staying at SBR villas, and choosing from all the great restaurants around Welfare road. Even if staying at Sonesta, we enjoy eating "out" other places especially for our last dinner (Moulon Foo?).
George

If you've got kids, it's not a bad way to go. But as other posters have said. This is just not that kind of island. WAY to many restaurants to choose from, so many fun places and the best beaches to check out!

AI or not?

As already noted, SXM is really not a great AI destination but if it’s worth doing from a financial standpoint, why not?! There’s no rule that says you MUST take every meal and/or drink there. If it’s your first trip to the island or you’re not at all adventurous, this option can certainly lower your stress levels.

But honestly, SXM is known as the “Gourmet Capital of the Caribbean’ for a reason. From the lowliest beach bbq shack to the best restaurants in the island, there is something to be truly enjoyed for every taste bud and pocketbook and it would be a shame to miss out on completely missing the island dining.

The approach we’ve taken a few times on first time vacations to new to us destinations is to try the AI option for breakfasts, lunches if on site, and occasional drinks, but once we figure out the lay of the land, we venture out and try some of the popular restaurants other visitors recommend.

Good luck with your trip whatever you finally do. We will celebrate our 50th year of annual SXM vacations next year and we’ve yet to be disappointed and over all those trips and years we have only experienced two less than excellent meals.

I find AI food and drink at cheaper all inclusive resorts to be dissapointing.
If you are adamant about meals being included sometimes a boutique hotel with meal add on rate is a better option, as the food is of much better quality.

Amen

I'm of the opinion that all-inclusives work best on islands & destinations that have significant risk of regional travel. In other words, they are most popular at destinations that are dangerous. Jamaica, Mexico, DR, etc. SXM is not like that. It's relatively safe and easy to get around on the island via rental car. As I see it, you should save the AI trip for Jamaica.

Totally agree.

Having done all-inclusives in the places mentioned, I agree that they work well in those places. However, for many years we went all-inclusive at Maho. The main reason for this was that my husband did not like to go out searching for breakfast. The buffet breakfast at Maho was very good. We went out everyday, to one of the beaches or to shop and ate at other places for lunch and at our favorite spots for dinner. If we were too tired to go out, we ate dinner at Maho. This worked for us.

Another post suggested that the drinks do not contain much alcohol. This depends on what you drink. In most all-inclusives, the mixed drinks - pina coladas, punches, etc. - may be lacking in alcohol but we learned in other locations that beer and wine are not watered down nor were they at Maho. Also, mixed spirits there are fine. I recall that the bartender in the main bar at Maho made a great manhattan.

The other benefit of staying at Maho meant you could get out to the casino and other lively spots by walking and did not have to worry about drinking and driving.

In the first years that we went to SXM, we stayed on the French side, in places that provided fully-equipped kitchens. We would get our own breakfast there, thus alleviating hubby's angst over finding breakfast. We would go out every night for dinner. After experiencing a frightening incident on the road one night, we decided that all the night-driving was not for us and switched to Maho.

To each his own, I guess, but I would not discourage people from staying at Maho. It has its benefits.

Thank you, Southshore. Your reasoning works for me even though I'm not a strong proponent of AI on XM.

I've only done AI once there and that was our very first trip. It was a free trip to us and all our meals and drinks were included at Mullet Bay Resort - just not in the typical AI manner. But this was in 1973 and things were very, very different then. Today I wouldn't dream on doing AI on SXM if it was offered to me but that's me and after all these years, just like most returnees, I have my preferred dining spots and really don't enjoy eating EVERY meal out. But if I were a first timer I might still find the island a little intimidating, particularly the traffic, and the convenience of being in one location might work.

On many of our first-time visits to the other Caribbean destinations - St. Kitts, Aruba, Antigua, Barbados, Grenada for starters - we've done AI and found it to our liking until we figured it all out and came to know the destinations and the choice dining spots. And honestly, even though we've paid in advance for the AI option, we never felt married to it. The breakfast buffets are usually awesome and snacks and drinks as desired as well as the occasional dinner just worked. And we were often inclined to check out a few dinner spots as we learned of them.

ditto Scuba